Thai Patients to Benefit From 3D Preoperative Planning

Medical clearance and local partnership enable diagnostic use of Materialise Mimics Innovation Suite in Thailand

LEUVEN, Belgium, Nov. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Materialise NV (NASDAQ: MTLS) has been cleared to bring the Materialise Mimics Innovation Suite software (Mimics Medical, 3-matic Medical) to the Thai market. This clearance is an important milestone for the Thai healthcare system as it will enable medical experts to use 3D planning software to design a patient-specific treatment approach instead of adapting a patient’s defect to possible solutions. In addition Materialise announces that HARN Engineering will become a distributor of the image-processing software in Thailand.

Having surgeons that are better prepared before even entering the operating room is a key benefit to patients as well: the Mimics Innovation Suite software is designed to allow surgeons to simulate each procedure virtually and to evaluate crucial parts of the surgery preoperatively. Moreover, the 3D software helps improving patient communication and can be used for educative purposes to train future health experts.

Global increase of patient-specific solutions

The Thai Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) clearance aligns with the global increase of patient-specific treatment approaches and is yet another example of how the medical 3D software created by Materialise meets the highest quality requirements.

Earlier this year, Materialise (Nasdaq: MTLS) was the first company in the world to receive an FDA clearance (United States) for software intended for 3D printing anatomical models for diagnostic use with Materialise Mimics inPrint, a workflow-based package developed to allow clinicians and hospital technicians to easily prepare a 3D model for 3D Printing, or advanced visualization based on medical images.

Local distribution enabled by HARN Engineering

To support the implementation of the Mimics Innovation Suite software within Thai healthcare facilities, Materialise will work with local distributors, including HARN Engineering to serve the market.

"The medical clearance, allows us to enable more health experts to do 3D planning and design patient-specific solutions made possible by 3D planning. Both surgeons and patients will benefit from this," says Sebastian De Boodt, MIS Portfolio Manager

Dr. Jain Charnnarong, Director, Chairman of Innovation and Incubation Committee of HARN Engineering said, "Helping bring the possibilities of 3D medical software to the Thai healthcare industry means a lot to us. From now on, surgeons will be able to plan procedures virtually, which means patients can benefit from reduced surgery times and fewer risks. We are proud to implement our proven expertise to help bring the benefits offered by medical 3D software into focus."

About Materialise

Materialise incorporates 28 years of 3D printing experience into a range of software solutions and 3D printing services, which together form the backbone of the 3D printing industry. Materialise’s open and flexible solutions enable players in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, automotive, aerospace, art and design, and consumer goods, to build innovative 3D printing applications that aim to make the world a better and healthier place. Headquartered in Belgium, with branches worldwide, Materialise combines the largest group of software developers in the industry with one of the largest 3D printing facilities in the world. For additional information, please visit: www.materialise.com.

About Materialise Medical

Materialise Medical, which has pioneered many of the leading medical applications of 3D Printing, enables researchers, engineers and clinicians to revolutionize innovative patient-specific care. Materialise Medical’s open and flexible platform of software and services, Materialise Mimics, forms the foundation of Medical 3D Printing in clinical as well as research environments, offering virtual planning software tools, 3D-printed anatomical models, and patient-specific surgical guides and implants. For additional information, please visit: materialise.com/medical.

About HARN Engineering

HARN Engineering Solutions Public Company was established in 1965 as an engineering trading firm. HARN has gradually expanded into Refrigeration, Safety and Fire Prevention, as well as Digital Printing. We have slowly become one of the leaders in each segment with design, installation, service, and consultation turning ourselves into a solution provider. In 2014, one of our companies was listed under MAI market and, through M&A, the entire group became public in 2016. In our early days, HARN was one of the first distributors for medical devices in Thailand. We, however, focus to return to biomedical with 3D printing using our long experience in digital printing.